a thousand ways to fall: jack and rapunzel
by Riana1
Summary: Once there was a girl in a tower and never being told not to, believed in everything. Then she met a boy no one believed in. And they fell in love. drabbles about jackpunzel.
1. Chapter 1

love is thicker than forget

He tries to stay.

He /wants/ to stay, curled up with Rapunzel in a contentment that steals his breathe away. A quilt covers them both and Jack skims Rapunzel's hair as it falls over her shoulder and spills down and around them both to the bedroom floor. He watches his hand curl over her sleeping face and trace small circles and loops over and over in her hair. Jack can almost see the patterns left behind as his fingers play down her back- come and go, come and go.

Jack can hear the winds whistling in the rafters under the crack of melting snow sliding off the roof. Spring is stalking him and he /doesn't/ want to go but the need for winter and wide open spaces hustles through his head in a constant thum— come and go, go and come back.

He will tell her when she wakes up, Jack decides his fingertips tracing the outline of her jaw and cheek. Rapunzel moves incoherently into his touch nuzzling his hand sleepily

Tomorrow, Jack thinks, I'll tell her tomorrow.

%%%

"I was waiting for the longest time," she said. "I thought you forgot me."

"It is hard to forget," Jack said, reaching down to pull Rapunzel up into his arms, "when there is such an empty space besides me."

"Much better now," he murmurs and buries his face in her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

wholly to be a fool

while Spring is in the world

- ee cummings

Aster has to admit he is more than a little fond of the drafty lil dag (not that the words would cross his lips until after a few pints were in him but Sandy was never on to tell tales over tallies, bless him) but not before his brekkie. Some things were sacred. Aster shut his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The others had all counseled patience with Jack Frost citing his youth, flies with honey, yadda, yadda but when Aster finished counting to ten and opened his eyes to find the remains of a snowball still slaughtered over his lovely uneaten greens and laugher drifting from on high only one thought rang out in his mind- he was going to /get/ the little bastard.

Aster pressed her lips together in displeasure and glared up Jack. Jack lounged back on wisteria dripping walkway above, staff and frockcoat balanced his lap while tossing a snow ball idly with one hand, "A little slow on the up take this morning, Cottontail."

Aster gripped the underside of the table until the wood squeaked. He promised May, he promised May, a few weeks until after Beltane, but as much as Aster doted on the newest summer spirit, her devoted swain made it rather... difficult. 'Hijinks into a high art' according to the rather frazzled May Queen, and Aster agreed letting Rapunzel wander the world unprepared and greener than the grass springing under her every step (she won't wear shoes, Konohana confided to him quietly) was asking for trouble. The Warren was an oasis, safe and secure as only the heart of spring could be for a newborn summer spirit; Rapunzel thrived, throwing trails of tulips in her wake as she scampered over every nook and cranny with her hair streaming behind. Half the time, Aster could only find her by searching for the flash of gold against green, Rapunzel spent as much of her time suspended in midair by her hair as she did leaving lines of lilies pell mell over the tunnels. She was a smart sheila, Aster could talk hours with her over the exact shading of blue needed for an egg or her many impromptu murals, but as sweet as Rapunzel was Jack Frost was another matter.

Aster released his grip on the table, peeling his paws off one by one; claw marks wouldn't help his case. The boyo wanted Bunnymund to chase him. Jack Frost had cabin fever but wouldn't wander a step out of sight of his lovely young lady and May had exact a promise from Rapunzel not to leave the Warren. Aster snorted softly, he had to admit he had seen canines less steadfast in their devotion than Jack Frost. Maybe it wasn't cabin fever as much as spring fever, Aster thought, especially with the added pressure of being winter born like Jack. Spring fever, huh- Aster straighten up suddenly and leveled a gleeful grin at Jack.

Jack felt a chill run down his spine as the Pooka leaped over the soggy remains of his meal and bounded over the open lawn towards the skips of Bethlehem stars running along the open path to the color river. Jack fumbled with his frock coat before dumping the offending piece of clothing on the ground and speeding off after the Pooka. He knew- he /knew/ he was pushing his luck with the rabbit, but Jack itched. The warmth of the Warren did not affect him so much as the temptation of the tunnels- Jack craved open air and the wild wind but Rapunzel couldn't (wouldn't) leave and Jack would rather jump into a volcanic hot spring than separate from her.

Clingy they called him, Jack thought and spun around the sitting egg guardian with ease, but no one but him was there that day. His body still betrays him in memory. These days, his stomach clenches at the snap of wet wood breaking and Jack has to curl his toes into the earth to keep from rushing over to wrap his hands around Rapunzel's face and remind himself of the light in her eyes. He never wants to see it go out again.

Jack somersaulted over the heavy bells of the coloring blossoms and stopped abruptly at the edge of the river bank, explanations imploding in his throat; Rapunzel was walking up to him, no,/sauntering/ with a sway in her hips and a smile on her lips.

Jack eeped.

She had been practicing with fabricating flowers into clothes, Jack thought dully, because the wrap of lacy ferns was new, she looked sublime with the filigree of fern leaves clinging tightly, wet green with peeks of her naked- Jack jerked his eyes up to some spot behind Rapunzel's head. "Oh, Jack," She laughed and reached for him, gathering him in her arms. Jack nestled into her, burying his face into the fall of her hair until all he knew was her.

Jack didn't stir until her fingers began to play on the nape of his neck, tracing the bumps of his spine. Rapunzel glided her fingers up into the ruff of his hair, tugging on them softly. Jack pulled his head back. "Rapunzel," he said, his voice coming from deep inside his throat, just before she pressed her lips to his.

Jack promptly forgot how to breathe.

The touch of her mouth is tender, remarkably chaste, despite Rapunzel's fervor. She swept her lips across his, peppering little kisses to the corners of his mouth and laid her forehead against his, her eyes green pools that left Jack drowning in open air.

"Bunny told me you were feeling restless and didn't want to worry me. It is so sweet that you two wanted to surprise me with an overnight trip in the Eastern tunnels. Opening a tunnel to see the night stars would be wonderful. I miss seeing the sky, but this way we do not have to leave the Warren. You are brilliant, Jack," Rapunzel said, releasing him.

"Oh, an overnight under the stars, right," Jack stuttered and stilled. An overnight. Sleeping side by side. With Rapunzel. And the snare of stars above him. Distantly Jack saw Rapunzel moving off happily, planning what kind of picnic to bring, posies spreading in her footsteps, and waving to a shadow on the hill across the river.

Jack looked up, his gaze zeroing in on the smug six foot rabbit across the way. "Well played, Bunny, well played," Jack muttered to himself and wondered if he had time enough to sneak away and freeze a waterfall.

With him under it.

Notes: Aussie linggo  
Dag : a funny person, nerd, goof  
Tallie : 750ml bottle of beer  
Brekkie : breakfast May- May Queen, rules over Beltane  
Konohana- Japanese ruler of springtime and flowers And this fic references my 'garland of your crowning glory' in which Rapunzel becomes a summer spirit and the other girls take notice and teach her. (I am firm in my belief that a lot of the Guardians' ignorance of Jack and his situation was a combination of his pride and their devotion to their duties. Sandy seems the closest to Jack but North didn't even know Jack tried to break in to the workshop and Tooth never even met Jack, though her fairies have. The fact she didn't know about his amnesia or the circumstances around his /death/, leads me to believe that the entire mess between Jack and them was a communication breakdown. They didn't ask and Jack didn't offer. ) Rapunzel is technically more of a sun spirit than summer considering her origins but that really is splitting hairs. She falls Mother Nature's justification or more actually May's who I write as an true English rose with mother hen tendencies or in fact a busybody with a sub-specialization in minion communication. Rapunzel basically drags Jack to civilizing like she did Eugene in the movie (he and Max have a long happy life together by the way.)


End file.
